Western Mail

Thousands of rapid tests coming to Wales in next few weeks

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WALES will have thousands of rapid-turnaround coronaviru­s tests within a matter of weeks.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said plans are now being made about who will get the tests, who will carry them out and where.

Revealing early plans for the so-called Lateral Flow Tests, which deliver results in as little as 30 minutes, the First Minister said testing in care homes is part of the discussion­s.

Tests for care home staff, as well as residents and family wanting to visit, could, potentiall­y, mean people could see and hug loved ones again, as they are at some homes in England.

It was agreed at a meeting of UK government­s last week that tests would be made available on a population basis.

“We will look at ways in which the new generation of Lateral Flow Tests, these fast-turnaround tests, can best be deployed in Wales,” the First Minister said at the Welsh Government coronaviru­s briefing yesterday.

“It was agreed at the meeting last week that tests will be shared across the UK on a population-share basis, which means that shortly we will be getting thousands of these tests a day.

“We need to plan now for how best to use these tests, both thinking about settings where they will be most effective, but also the sheer practicali­ties: how the tests arrive in Wales, how they get distribute­d to where they are needed, how people can be trained to use them effectivel­y, how results of tests can be fed back into the health records in the NHS of those people.

“These are significan­t challenges that are being worked on very hard at the moment and care home staff and residents in care homes – you can be sure – are very much part of our conversati­ons.”

Asked whether the mass testing in Merthyr, due to start today, might soon take place in other parts of Wales, or settings, Mr Drakeford said the experience in Merthyr would inform that.

“Our aim is to put this in place in Merthyr on a sort of learning basis.

“When we have learned what works, and what doesn’t work, in a Welsh context, we hope we will be able to use that to see where we will be able to do this again in some other parts of Wales, where the need arises.”

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